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PREPARING YOUR NEW ELAN 333.   by Bill Mackay

The following is a loose description of how we prepared our Elan 333 ‘Eland’. Many people will state that it is not necessary to go to these lengths, but now in the twilight of my sailing career, I have to give myself every opportunity to go fast!  There will also be many people who will disagree with what I have said, my answer to them is ‘Tough’.

When your boat arrives from the factory, you will note, that like every other production boat, the keel, bottom and rudder look very good, but in fact the surfaces are not fair and smooth.  You have to liken your keel and rudder to an aeroplane wing. A plane flies because the passage of air over the wing generates ‘lift’; you never see an aeroplane with a wing full of bumps and hollows. The same applies to your keel and rudder; they generate lift to windward when sailing close hauled. So, it is time well spent fairing the foils if you want to lift out from the fleet after the start.

Once the boat has arrived, run your hand gently over the keel in all directions. You will be amazed at how many imperfections there are.  So, now to work! Clean off any dirt from the keel and rudder and prime with a lead primer if the keel is lead, and an iron primer if the keel is iron.  If possible borrow or hire a spray gun if you do not own one (borrowing one is better!).  Place a heater on either side of the keel and leave on overnight to generate a small amount of warmth in the lead/iron. This will help your coatings of paint to dry more quickly. The paint I use is an Epoxy based filler/primer. This paint can be obtained from either S.P.Systems, or West Systems. The paint is really a mixture of epoxy resin, (which protects the keel from rust or corrosion), and a chalk like substance which makes it very easy to sand. (Is sanding ever easy?).  Spray on at least two coats of primer, allow to dry, then fill any major undulations with an epoxy filler using a trowel. Make sure that you do not leave any high ridges, as they can be time consuming to flatten out.  Now make up a sanding board (you can do this while the filler dries).  The board should be made of thin flexible plywood with the dimension of one half sheet of lengthways sandpaper. The board should be such that it will easily bend round the shape of the keel sections when pressure is applied to either end. This makes sure that when you sand, you are taking any ‘high spots’ off, and not sanding into the hollows, this happens when you use a small sanding block or your hand.  When sanding press the board firmly onto the contours of the keel, and move around vertically, at 45 degrees and always finish off in a fore & aft direction.  Make sure that you sand vertically down the leading edge of the keel and down the aft edge of the keel.  Now you will see that any remaining hollows are visible, as the paint will not be scored by the sandpaper.  You should use 80 grit production paper for the above.  If there any remaining hollows keep repeating the process until the whole area of the keel & rudder are scored by the sandpaper. It is very good to have a sharp ‘flat’ at the aft end of the foils.  One last check for fairness is to paint the keel with red or blue ink, and give one more light  sand.  Any remaining irregularities will show up as the ink is sanded off.  You can now spray on the antifouling. I use International VC offshore. Spray on the antifouling using very thin coats (50% thinners).  When this has dried you can then burnish the surface with 1000 grade wet & dry sandpaper using soapy water (the soapy water stops the fine sandpaper becoming clogged up).  The finished foils should have a shine and any reflection of light should be undistorted.

The underwater area of the hull should be well sanded prior to the application of antifouling.  All GRP production boats have very slight irregularities in the hull moulding. To remove these we use a ‘long board’. This is similar to the board used for fairing the keel, except that it is 4 feet long. The sandpaper can be stuck to the board using a spray adhesive.  Use 240 grit paper, and again press the board firmly against the hull, and sand in all directions but finish off in a fore and aft direction. Spray and burnish the antifouling as per the keel instructions.

Presumably, if racing, you will have a folding propeller.  Close the prop blades and turn the shaft so that the blades are in an up and down position behind the ‘P’ bracket.  Now go inside the boat and mark the prop shaft so that when you go racing you will be able to turn the prop to the correct position.  There will probably be a propshaft anode on the boat.  With car body filler (Cataloy), streamline the forward edge of the anode, making sure the aft end of the anode is as close to the ‘P’ bracket as possible.

When you place the mast in the boat, make sure that the mast is straight athwartships. This can be done by taking the main halyard and placing it to the top of the toe rail on the port side, lock off the halyard. Now take the halyard to the starboard side and check the measurement. If it is longer, then the mast is leaning to Starboard. If shorter then the mast is leaning to Port. Adjust the bottlescrews until the measurement is the same both sides.  Put the boom on the mast; now drop the main halyard vertically from the mast head. We found that the intersection of the halyard to the boom should be around 10 inches aft from the back of the mast. With this measurement there should be the correct amount of fore & aft rake.  The rake can be adjusted either by lengthening the forestay by the bottlescrew, or inserting a toggle at the bow.  For ease of operation an additional cascade should be used to make the backstay more powerful.  Using a rig tension gauge set up the cap shrouds with a tension of 9, and the lowers at a tension of 6.  Now go sailing and sight up the mast; the intermediate shrouds can now be set to give an even bend on the mast. Do not forget to sail on both tacks!

When racing never have any water in your water tanks, and the minimum amount of fuel in the fuel tank.  We stowed our anchor and warps under the forward end of the saloon port berth. Do not carry your anchor in the bow anchor locker, and if possible carry an empty gas bottle!  We do not take any crockery or cutlery on board; we take a flask of coffee (or whisky) and paper cups with one plastic teaspoon! It is really important to keep any moveable weight out of the ends of the boat.  E.g. All sails, fenders, mooring warps, dinghies etc should be stowed on the cabin floor beside the cabin table. By doing this you will reduce pitching in a head sea.

We usually sail with 5-6 people in light winds, and 6-7 in fresh winds.  In drifting conditions put at least two of the crew lying on the foredeck above the hatch. This tends to reduce the wetted surface at the stern of the boat. Also in very light winds have the remainder of the crew lying on the deck on the leeward side of the coachroof.  In fresh winds make sure the crew sit well outboard with their legs over the side, do not allow them to lean back against the coachroof!  To ease the discomfort of sitting out, we covered the sharp toe rail with white electrical conduit.

To ascertain correct crew positions at varying angles of heel we take a 56lb weight on board. In flat water and no wind we motor at 1 knot. Check the boat speed (you need a Speedo with a +/~ trim function). Move the crew weight around until you ascertain when the boat is going at its fastest.  Now with the 56lb weight attached to the end of the boom (this is to heel the boat), and 5 degrees of heel motor at say 2 knots, again move the crew around to optimal speed. By pushing the boom outboard, you can increase the angle of heel by various degrees to cover a large range of heel. By increasing the engine revs you will soon have a table of where the crew should be positioned at any speed or angle of heel. This is a bit of a pest, but it means that at any point of sailing or speed you know where to put the crew. 

As all boats, even new ones, carry a lot of moisture on board it is a good idea to have a de-humidifier and bar heater on board when the boat is not sailing.  You will be amazed at how much water you can draw from the interior.

I think that’s all I can think of just now, but will forward any further points when I remember them Now that my e-mail is sorted, please do not hesitate to get in touch

Good Sailing

Bill